Nick Saban weighs the balance of hating to lose, loving to win

Alabama head football coach Nick Saban is the ultimate perfectionist. That’s played a big role in propelling him to build one of the biggest dynasties in sports history with the Crimson Tide. There are few people on the planet that hate to lose as much as Saban.

On Thursday evening on the “Hey Coach & The Nick Saban Show”, the legendary football coach discussed weighing the balance of his hatred of losing against his love of winning.

For Saban, the hatred of losing has always been the biggest motivating force in his career.

“Well I think, you know, A, probably hate to lose. Because I do think that….for me, fear of failure has always been a great motivator. You want to win. Want to be the best. But, just hate losing. Always hated losing, even when I was a kid. So, I would say that’s probably the biggest thing,” Saban began.

“As a coach, you know, what’s even more important is to me, is I made a statement earlier in the week, that it’s one thing to win the game, it’s another thing to beat the other team. So, to have your team play to their capabilities to sort of, impose their will for 60 minutes in a game. That doesn’t mean you break somebody’s will. It means that’s your competitive mentality, aight, to sort of impose your will on the other guy for 60 minutes. And you go out and play the very best. Because that’s what you’re trying to do as a coach. You’re trying to get all your players to reach their full potential. And play that way with a psychological disposition. Whether it’s the ability to execute and do their job, their poise, their confidence, all those things. ” Saban continued.

“So, I think it’s more for me, are we doing that? Are we doing that? Because even when we win, and I don’t feel like we played a complete game. And I don’t really feel good unless I feel like we beat the other team. Because then I feel like the team actually played like they’re capable of playing and they did it for all 60 minutes in the game. So, you know, it’s not just about winning,” Saban said.

“I mean, I talk all the time about not being outcome oriented, being process oriented. And doing the things you need to do to get the outcome that you want. And that’s, I’m so focused on that. Sometimes just because you win, you don’t always feel great about the way you won, because you don’t think you did those things really well, as a coach. Now, as a player, I think every time you win you should be happy. You should enjoy it. It should be fun, because you put a lot into it. But you’re always evaluating those things as a coach,” the legendary Alabama head football coach explained.

Alabama and Tennessee will square off on Saturday, Oct. 21. Kick time for that one is slated for 3:30 PM EST.